Well, often times
Business Education today, and I see it all the time
Kids come out of college, the best colleges
Wharton and Harvard and Stanford and some of the great business schools and
they'll come out and they won't have practical experience.
There's too many case studies that aren't practical.
You know, we ask kids that are 16 to 18 years old to make
$100,000 debt decisions when they go off to
University, and they are not prepared for that. They don't know
what they're getting themselves into, they just assume 'Okay, I'm gonna pay four years of education at twenty-five thousand a pop and
when I come out the other side somehow I'll be able to pay it back'.
Reporter: Right.
That's not how life works anymore.
There's no need even to have a college degree.
At all. We're in high school-
I mean, if somebody graduated from a great university, that may be an
indication that they will be capable of great things, but it's not necessarily the case
you know, if you look at
say, people like Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs
these guys didn't graduate from college but
if you had a chance to hire them, of course that would be... a good idea. [laughs]
I think having the flexibility
to explore a lot of different things
which you can do when you're in college
which is one of the amazing things about being in college is
you can work on all these hobbies
and encode a lot of stuff and try a lot of different things. It's this amazing
flexibility that I think most people take for granted
and once you decide
'Okay, I'm gonna start a company and I'm gonna do it with someone else',
you immediately now need to convince someone else if you want to change your mind on something, and
I think people really undervalue the option value and flexibility.
I think explore what you want to do before committing is really like, the key thing and
keep yourself flexible.
Interviewer: [chuckles]
No, I think that that's...
Interviewer: Yeah, I agree.
I mean, it's actually kind of funny like-
you know, if you think like 'what is education',
like you're basically downloading data and algorithms into your brain
and
it's actually
amazingly bad in conventional education
'cause like it shouldn't be like this huge tour
If someone is standing up there kind of lecturing at people
and They've done the same lecture Twenty Years in a Row and They're not Very Excited about It and
In fact i think a Lot of Thing People Learn It probably There's no point in learning them Because
It that They never use them in the future because the like Kids Just in school Kinda Puzzled as to why they're there i think
The People Who are doing the work that we care about are
Figuring Out What to do next not following the person who told them what to do next and the problem with most
Colleges Is They are high school But with more binge Drinking
The entire purpose of a Good University Is to give you a Foundation to fail
Not a foundation to get an a and if You graduate from college with straight A's you have to do some serious soul-Searching?
As to why you chose to spend your time doing that a student's Work for the b students
The C students Run The Businesses and that These students dedicate The Buildings it's like The Newspaper Industry
Write more printing presses more Big Buildings write Makes this look
Grander We Have Brains That we're putting them Out there there's There's a Point of diminishing
returns in Terms of
What it's worth for a college Education and
How much Debt you're Willing to sell Yourself with a Lot of People file a Lot of People are following
if Not we'd have problems we Have too many Entrepreneurs we have too Many Successful people look how many People Go through Business Classes iF
Everything You Needed Was in that Actual Business class in that book
it'd be too Many Successful Business People Right How many People graduate
Matter of Fact the professor
Wouldn't have The time to sit there and teach you
He knows this book Damn near Broke a them page by page he knows all right cuz he be entrepreneur he too busy i'm
Too i'm doing Way
Too Much Right Now cuz i got the palm trees and
We do It we Sell It so much Right Stuff that I'm doing that i ain't quite got time to teach
and so when You walk into a Boardroom
With a Bunch of Guys in suits who all went to college you're fine
Yeah i Mean Because They Read a bunch of Words I've Lived a Bunch of life
That Self-Esteem From Seriously I Mean Most My mom first and Foremost
Just live in Life like you know being in real situations and Happen to be a person of High integrity and Honesty
you Know you never embarrassed Yourself of Course not You never walked in and Said how Everybody Thinks I'm ignorant Here i'm stupid i
Never i don't i don't Feel ignorant right you know i don't ryan felt like i came up in this Situation
or time you know where i wasn't afforded Certain opportunities and if afforded Opportunities
I could Be Oprah could be
Bill Gates i could Be Warren Buffett in My Experience in
Business
There is Very little difference
if Any
Between a Very High-Priced Business Education and
What's available a Lot for a Lot less Money i went to the university of nebraska-Lincoln
My last Year in college i went to Wharton for a Couple Years Before That
I learned Just as Much At University of Braska As I did at Wharton
you Need to be prodded in the right Direction but an Awful lot of It Is
Self As Self taught It Isn't Necessary to pay Thirty or Thirty-five Thousand Dollars a Year to go to some
big-name School
to get the Education at all i mean if you're gonna Learn accounting if you're going
Is the probably the most important of Course You'd take in Business iF you're gonna Learn to count you learn in accounting
Absolutely as Well and My view going to you and Always going to harvard i mean i see i
Would i bet on that and
so i
Wouldn't run Up
Huge Bills and
Education Is Very Good at
Training People to do the same Things that we've done over and Over again?
And i think there's Always a question What the nature of The Educational Good is
You Know you can Say It's a it's an investment Good we're investing in the future you can Say It'S a Consumption Good like
college Is a Four-Year Party
you Know i think most of the parents and students think of It Actually as an insurance Policy Where you're Buying This Really
Ever more Expensive insurance
So that The students don't fall through The really Big cracks in our society and We Should Be Asking some big questions why the insurance
Costs are Going Up and Up like That and if you were the president of Harvard or stanford if You wanted to get a
Lynch Mob of students alumni Faculty to come after you and try to lynch you What you Should Say Is
something Like This you know we we live in this much larger more Global World We Offer a Great
Education to everybody and so we're gonna double or triple our Enrollment over the next 15 to 20 Years
and People Would They'd All Be Furious because the value of The degrees comes from This Massive
Exclusion and and What you're Really running is something Like a
studio 54 Nightclub i hate It i Hated School i Really Hated School i Really all i hated School
Generally Right
Because It Was this
Instruction Following Thing Now i bet you it's probably also Because i wasn't good at It and some People
Like I've Got a Great Conceptual rep Memory and a Terrible rote Memory so if i have a Story i could tell you
Year By Year Kind of What Happened
Within a Story Within a Context but if i was to go into
You Know like a Memory Based Learning it's terrible i have a Terrible Road Memory?
Ego Barrier Is the worst Thing and if we Were raised differently
Just imagine in the schools that all Along The People will always Say Everybody Makes Mistakes
Everybody has Weaknesses
the Key is really to
Understand What Your Mistakes and Weaknesses are so that You can Learn from them
right i think in Punishment is it'S a terrible Concept
punishment means that You made a mistake and you're being Punished i think Instead of punishment Every time somebody Makes a Mistake
you Should Say The Only Thing that you need to do
To get out of your punishment his first think What Kind of mistake Was that so if i'm in this Situation
That's like That Again
How would i do deal with It differently not to make that Mistake
so that Learning
Should Come from The mistake not punishment because you're teaching People not to make Mistakes
Where's Where the learning comes from Not the appreciation the if you keep Doing this over and Over again
you're gonna Keep encountering The Same outcomes
you Know it's an Extremely
Corrupt System We Have at This point There's we have an Education bubble in the u.s
We have a Trillion Dollars of student debt
To first approximation this has gone to pay for a trillion Dollars Worth of lies about the value of The education People Have Received
And
and i it's not at all obvious
Yet Though What's going to What's going to replace This or how it's going to change
My Um you know the the you know the
and I'm somewhat Skeptical That It Will Be replaced By Any Sort Of single Unitary System and i have This fellowship for
Young People to start Companies
and You know it's not my claim is not That
Everybody Should Do This i don't think everyone Should become an Entrepreneur and i think i think there is no one-size-Fits-All
so i think the future will be much more heterogeneous Much more diverse in terms of What People do
And
What's What's Really Anomalous is the sort of
Unitary tracking Where you have to go to an elite college You go to yale or you go to jail
There's nothing Else You can Do you know
and so the The i think the universities are Perhaps in
Perhaps in the same Place as the catholic Church Was in
1514 if we Go back 500 Years Where you have sort of This is monolithic Way newton's universal
Way of
Body of Knowledge of teaching Things the difference Between the yale and the Harvard political science Faculties are probably
No greater Than the differences between the dominicans and the franciscans we have all Kinds of small Debates Within This context?
We are we Have a System of Indulgences
That's costing more and more to support this priestly or professorial Class of People
We are told That it's the only Way to Salvation
You Must get a diploma to be Saved if you do not get a diploma then You Will go to hell
And i think and i think the i think the the message that i have That's like?
The 16th Century Reformers That's a Somewhat Troubling Message
Is that you have to work out?
Your Salvation on Your own you have to save Yourself and and
And That's That's i think i believe that is the truth but it's a it'S a somewhat uncomfortable one